From the tsunami in Japan to the fiery display of a volcano in Iceland, this was a year for memorable photos, both heart-breaking and inspirational.

In this photo captured by daredevil photographer Skarphedinn Thrainsson, a fellow madcap photographer stands with his tripod on May 15 as the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland spews hot fire into the air.

As magnificent as Eyjafjallajökull was, it was the Grímsvötn volcano — located on the southeast side of the island — that proved to be the bigger blast, but it didn't disrupt European travel nearly as much as the first one.

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Photo: davidkosmos/Flickr

Snowpocalypse hits Atlanta

Three young men cling to a green kayak as they fly down a snowy slope on Jan. 10 at Atlanta's Piedmont Park. The strong winter storm blanketed most of the East Coast from Jan. 8-13, and many Southern cities were shut down for several days due to the lack of snow removal equipment.

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Photo:Mehgan Murphy/Smithsonian's National Zoo

Smithsonian's growing pride of lions

A lioness scoops up one of her seven cubs in her mouth while walking around the enclosure on Jan. 7 at Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C. The zoo's lion pride has been thriving since the addition to two separate litters of lion cubs in 2010.

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Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Hurricane Irene wreaks havoc up the East Coast

Billy Stinson (left) comforts his daughter, Erin Stinson, as they sit on the steps where their cottage once stood in Nags Head, N.C., after it was destroyed by Hurricane Irene on Aug. 28.

The cottage, built in 1903, was one of the first vacation cottages built on Roanoke Sound in Nags Head. Stinson had owned the home, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, since 1963.

"We were pretending, just for a moment, that the cottage was still behind us and we were just sitting there watching the sunset," said Erin afterward.

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Photo: Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images

Occupy Earth

Demonstrators line up in front of the White House on Nov. 6 in Washington, D.C. Thousands of people descended on the White House to join hands and stand against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. TransCanada wants to build a $7 billion pipeline to carry tar sands oil across the Plains to refineries near the Gulf of Mexico.

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Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Major blizzard immobilizes the Midwest

Cars sit in the northbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive in Chicago on Feb. 2 after accidents and drifting snow stranded the drivers during the previous night's blizzard. As of late morning, more than 20 inches of snow had fallen, making the snowstorm the third largest recorded in the city.

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Photo: Green Renaissance/WWF

Endangered rhinos fly through the sky

A critically endangered black rhino is airlifted by helicopter over rough terrain to a land vehicle as part of the WWF's Black Rhino Range Expansion Project in South Africa. The animals are being transported to a new swath of land to reduce pressure on existing reserves and to curb poaching. The helicopter trip lasted less than 10 minutes and removed the rhino from difficult and dangerous terrain before it was transported by a land vehicle to its new home.

The mission is to provide new territory so the animals can rapidly increase their numbers. Black rhino need larger blocks of land than white rhino because they are not social and tend to space themselves out more. The sleeping animals suffer no ill effect from the operation, according to the WWF.

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Photo: Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images

Earthquake-induced tsunami washes town away

A yacht rests precariously on a two-story building on March 15 after the boat was washed ashore by a tsunami caused by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake in Otsuchi, Iwate, Japan.

The quake struck offshore at 2:46 p.m. on March 11, triggering a tsunami wave that engulfed large parts of northeastern Japan.

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Photo: /Getty Images

Apple fans mourn the death of Steve Jobs

Chinese exchange students from De Anza College in California use candles to create the Apple logo at a makeshift memorial for Steve Jobs on Oct. 5 at Apple headquarters in Cupertino.

Jobs, 56, died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, prompting improvised memorials and tributes at Apple stores and offices around the world. Jobs co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak in 1976, and is credited with marketing the world's first personal computer in addition to the popular iPod, iPhone and iPad.

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Photo: Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images

Miracle baby pulled from earthquake wreckage

Rescue workers carry Azra Karaduman, a 2-week-old baby who was pulled from debris in October following a magnitude-7.2 earthquake that struck Ercis, Turkey.

The mother of the infant, who was also buried underneath the wreckage, was freed from the rubble after hours of frantic digging. The dramatic rescue came 48 hours after the earthquake struck eastern Turkey, leveling more than 900 buildings in the region.

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Photo: ZUMA Press

Cape Town sunset

As the Southern Hemisphere descends into winter, wafts of mist float above the Atlantic Ocean at sunset in Cape Town, South Africa on May 17.

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Photo: David McNew/Getty Images

Santa Ana winds down hundreds of trees in Southern California

A young boy climbs through a fallen tree on Dec. 1 on Green Street in Pasadena, Calif., after his school was closed due to violent Santa Ana winds that caused the worst local wind damage in decades. As many as 270,000 people were left without power from the downed trees, prompting the city to close schools and declare a state of emergency.

Santa Ana winds, which can sometimes reach hurricane speeds, sweep through the region every fall and winter. This particularly robust round of gusts was considered a once-in-a-decade occurrence caused by the collision of a strong, high-pressure system and a cold, low-pressure system.

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Photo: Kelly Cestari/ASP via Getty Images

Barreling through the surf at the RipCurl Pro

Kai Otton of Sydney, Australia, rides a tube during the RipCurl Pro Portugal, placing second in his Round 3 heat on Oct. 17 in Peniche, Portugal. Tube rides — when a surfer positions himself inside a cresting wave — are considered one of the most challenging surfing maneuvers. Peniche is one of Europe's best surfing locations because the beaches face three different directions, resulting in excellent and consistent waves.

A yellow emergency vehicle drives down a stretch of road surrounded by what remains of homes that had been decimated 10 days earlier when an EF-5 multiple-vortex tornado ripped through the city of Joplin, Mo. on May 22.

The powerful tornado, which has an expected insurance payout of $2.2 billion, claimed 160 lives and 7,000 homes.

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Photo: ZUMA Press

MacGyvering a bridge

A student walks across an improvised bridge of chairs situated over a flooded path on June 14 on the campus of Hubei University in Hubei in China's Wuhan province.

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Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Protesting the Keystone XL pipeline

Actress Daryl Hannah holds a protest sign while sitting in front of the White House on Aug. 30 in Washington, D.C., during a protest against the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Hannah was among dozens of protesters arrested in a demonstration against the pipeline which would have run from Alberta's oil sands in Canada to Texas and the Gulf of Mexico.

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Photo: Denis Doyle/Getty Images

World's largest annual tomato fight

A woman kicks tomato pulp at a fellow reveler while playing in a messy street at the heart of the annual Tomatina Festival on Aug. 31 in Bunol, Spain. During the fight, about 35,000 people throw 120 tons of ripe tomatoes, which are brought from the province of Extremadura, where the tomatoes are of lower quality and are not intended for consumption.

The annual festival is believed to date back to 1944 when participants of a staged brawl used tomatoes from a nearby vegetable stand as weapons. Despite its violent beginnings, contemporary participants are instructed to smash tomatoes in their hands before throwing them to prevent serious injury.

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Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images

A daring leap at the Pan American Games

Kent Farrington of the United States makes a dramatic jump on Oct. 27 with his horse, Uceko, during the jumping competition at the Guadalajara Country Club on Day 13 of the XVI Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. The Pan Am games are one of the largest sporting events in the world — second only to the Summer Olympic Games — with 42 nations competing.* * *

Photo: /Getty Images

The aftermath of Typhoon Nesat

Residents of Navotas, a city in metro Manila, clean up debris and start rebuilding their shanties following Typhoon Nesat's crossing of Luzon Island in the Philippines in late September.

With winds of more than 100 miles per hour, the typhoon put the Philippine's capital under water, flooding streets and destroying homes. Although 100,000 residents were evacuated from the city, the storm — which has been called one of the most powerful typhoons of the year — claimed the lives of 83 people and caused $333 million in damages for the country.

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Photo: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

Sonepur Mela

A caretaker observes 7-year-old elephant Laxmi rubbing trunks with her 13-month-old daughter, Rani, during Sonepur Mela — also known as the Sonepur Cattle Fair — on Nov. 15 in Sonepur near Patna, India.

Every year, elephant and horse traders converge on the banks of the River Ganges in the Indian state of Bihar for one of the largest and oldest cattle fairs in the world. In addition to cattle trading, the two-week-long annual fair also features a variety of attractions and vendors.

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Photo: Clive Rose/Getty Images

Testing out the venues for the 2012 Olympics

Denise Johns of Great Britain dives into the sand to save a ball during a practice session on Aug. 8 prior to the Visa FIVB Beach Volleyball International at Horse Guards Parade in London.

Horse Guards Parade, equipped with a temporary arena filled with sand, will be the site of the beach volleyball competition during the 2012 Olympic Games.

A central Texas rancher displays a sign on a fence along a highway in hopes of bringing relief to the parched land. Texas experienced a sever drought this year, with high winds and punishing temperatures,

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Photo: Bill Ingalls/Getty Images

Last space shuttle flight marks the end of an era

Space shuttle Atlantis is seen on July 8 as it launches from pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The launch of Atlantis, or STS-135, was the final flight of the shuttle program, a 12-day mission to the International Space Station.

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Photo: ZUMA Press

A beetle fit for a lobster

A diver inspects a life-sized 8-ton cement replica of a classic Volkswagen Beetle placed underwater at the Manchones Reef near Cancun and Isla Mujeres, Mexico, on June 20.

Don't let it fool you — it's not just a statue. Inside the cement car are compartments for local lobsters and fish to make their homes.

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Photo: Bill Ingalls/NASA

Astronauts return to Earth

Russian support personnel extract crew members from the Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft shortly after the capsule landed on Nov. 22 in a remote area outside the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan.

Commander Mike Fossum of the United States, and Flight Engineers Sergei Volkov of Russia and Satoshi Furukawa of Japan returned to Earth after spending more than five months at the International Space Station. Once inside the medical tent, the astronauts shed their space suits and underwent standard medical exams, taking the first steps to readjusting to life on Earth. Another crew of three astronauts — two Russians and one American — were launched into space earlier the day before to take their places.

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Photo: Boris Roessler/ZUMA Press

Drought and famine in the Horn of Africa

A starved calf lies dead on Aug. 1 on a dusty path leading to the refugee camps set up in Dadaab, Kenya. A severe drought quickly turned into a food crisis for 13 million people in eastern Africa this summer.

The United Nations officially declared the crisis a famine in mid-July, but tens of thousands of people in southern Somalia had already succumbed to starvation. Due to lack of funding and security issues in the region, humanitarian aid was repeatedly hindered and delayed as more people died. A full recovery from the ordeal is not expected until 2012.

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Photo: Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images

High hopes for good luck and granted wishes on 11/11/11

A young girl named Mahima lights a series of candles forming the numerals "11.11.11" at her home in Hyderabad, India. on Nov. 11.

Many people around the world observed the once-in-a-century date, and some even took it to the next level by getting hitched in mass weddings.

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Photo: Staff Sgt. Eric Harris/U.S. Air Force

Texas wildfire

Wildfires burn in various locations across Texas in April. The U.S. Forest Service, the Air National Guard and other agencies were working together to extinguish and control fires that have burned more than 1,000 square miles of land.